Gov. Deval Patrick to propose three MA casinos

[h0trod]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/art..._3_casino_plan

When this is announced, I suggest those of us in Massachusetts make some phone calls to the State House to register our support as poker players. I am no political wonk, but my take is that while proposals like this have historically always been troublesome in Massachusetts the weather has never been better for us.

[Legislurker]

See if you can get some PPA help on it as well.

[Uglyowl]

I am in Mass., I will get in touch with my local rep.

[Adebisi]

On the state legislative levels, how come these casino bills don't seem to actually go through that often? Since everything is on such a small scale, couldn't casino developers essentially buy all the votes they need at election time? Like, say the average candidate for a state house of reps has a $75,000 election fund, couldn't a casino developer hand-pick 20-30 candidates to run and set them up with $750,000 election funds?

I think it would be VERY cheap to massively outspend all political opponents at election time compared with the profits that could be made from a large-scale resort casino.

[oldbookguy]

They do.

Take WV foe example. We just had 4 county votes authorized by the Legislature. MTG Gaming spent and estimated 2 million in campaign donations / lobbying last year.

Thing is, it take several years as a rule of this.

Another example is Virginia last year. There is debate about Pker and one city is running Holdem Games. The laws there are 2 fold and the debate is where poker fits in.

A bill was in both houses, passed the lower almost 100%. Passed the Senate committees the same, almost 100%.
No Senate vote ever took place. The reason given to the Poker Supporters and the Fraternal Order of Police (who were running the games, now a group affiliated with the March of Dimes), come back next year with some lobbying money, you have none this year and we will talk about voting.

Also, you guys at the PPA need to keep watch in Va., this likely will come up again this winter of 2008.

obg

[Legislurker]

A lot of state legislatures only meet once every two years. And, a lot of states have bicameral legislatures where backwoods nazi preachers win 70-30 in the house representing counties/parishes. State senates are notorious for octogenarian true believers holding out session after session against lotteries, much less casinos. In a lot of ways, being isolated from democracy sucks.

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
On the state legislative levels, how come these casino bills don't seem to actually go through that often? Since everything is on such a small scale, couldn't casino developers essentially buy all the votes they need at election time? Like, say the average candidate for a state house of reps has a $75,000 election fund, couldn't a casino developer hand-pick 20-30 candidates to run and set them up with $750,000 election funds?

I think it would be VERY cheap to massively outspend all political opponents at election time compared with the profits that could be made from a large-scale resort casino.

[/ QUOTE ]

I keep saying neither money nor issues win election volunteer do.

[Tuff_Fish]

[ QUOTE ]

.
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I keep saying neither money nor issues win elections, volunteers do.

[/ QUOTE ]

All of the above.

T

[h0trod]

Here's the latest:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/cit...to_anno_1.html

Announcement to be made at 1PM today. Article states anti-gambling forces are already mobilizing against the issue. Make sure your voice gets heard. I speak to many people who couldn't care too much one way or the other, but think it's silly that Connecticut is reaping all the rewards of MA gamblers crossing state lines to play.

If anyone has the right numbers to call, post 'em up -- otherwise I'll search them and add them to the thread a little later.

[Tuff_Fish]

From the above link:


.
By Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick will announce his decision this afternoon about the expansion of casino gambling in Massachusetts, according to a scheduled issued by his staff.

After months of study and a long stretch of public silence, Patrick is holding a press conference at the State House to discuss legalized gaming.

The Globe reported Sunday that Patrick will propose that the state sell licenses for three full-scale resort casinos, citing their potential to spur economic growth, create jobs, and generate new government revenue. The casinos would be licensed in three regions: Southeastern Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts, and an area that includes Boston and points north, officials said.

All three licenses would be put up for competitive bid, in a process that is expected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in immediate and direct state revenue . Suffolk Downs in East Boston and Revere's Wonderland Park immediately began jockeying for one of the three casino licenses, while gambling foes began mobilizing and vowed a major fight against casinos.

Patrick's plan would not give preferential treatment to the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe, which has already inked an agreement with the town of Middleborough to build a $1 billion resort casino. The tribe would have to outbid other competitors for a license or could proceed with a longer, more arduous federal approval process that could result in a fourth Massachusetts casino. Shawn Hendricks Sr., the tribal council chairman, and other Wampanoag leaders have scheduled a press conference in Mashpee today at 3:30 p.m.

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My question is, where does this revenue projection come from? Is it realistic?

If the State of Massachusettes were to license and sanction an online site(s), which they can legally do, and open it up to all residents of localities where participation is not prohibited by law, how much revenue could they expect?

I am somewhat perplexed by the failure of some state politicos in some state or other to not recognise a fairly lucrative cash source.

The North Dakota guys got bamboozled by the DOJ shill saying that it may violate some law or other. But it seems that a little research would have proven that they could have politely told the shill to go pound sand.

What am I missing?

Tuff